The films, which continue each Tuesday evening through May 18, are discussed in the book and reflect life in the 1930s and into the war years, Diehl said.

“It was not too difficult for people to get on board and say, ‘We are the good guys, we have to win,’” she said.

An “all for one and one for all” attitude infused city life, Diehl said, and while New Yorkers faced privations, they were reasonably sure their homes wouldn’t be bombed. Londoners didn’t have that comfort, and New Yorkers understood that and acted accordingly, volunteering and showing soldiers on leave their appreciation.

But there was a dark side to New York, too. A pro-Nazi movement flourished in the German neighborhood of Yorkville, just as German Jews were flocking across the Atlantic to escape the horror overseas.